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<a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/">
<img src="cid:7.1.0.9.0.20070701205014.01a78310@xerces.org.0" width=300 height=60 alt="Portland News, Portland Business Journal, Portland Newspaper">
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<b> <br>
D's support bees<br><br>
Portland Business Journal - 10:25 AM PDT Friday, June 29, 2007<br><br>
</b>Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Oregon, and Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Florida
have introduced a bill to make pollinator conservation an overarching
priority in conservation programs administered through the U.S.
Department of Agriculture. <br><br>
The Pollinator Habitat Protection Act of 2007 comes in the wake of a
spate of mysterious European honeybee colony collapses occurring around
the country. In Oregon, honeybees are key for pollinating the state's
plentiful tree fruit crops, including pears, apples and cherries. Beyond
recent collapses of European honeybee populations, the National Academies
of Science in October 2006 released a report that warned of declining
populations of multiple varieties of pollinators, including birds, bats,
bees and other insects. <br><br>
The Pollinator Protection Act of 2007 aims to improve habitat and food
sources for pollinators. The bill utilizes existing conservation programs
to strengthen both native and managed pollinator habitat. It also
requires existing conservation programs to acknowledge pollinator habitat
as a conservation target and rewards producers whose conservation
practices are beneficial for pollinators. <br><br>
"By increasing pollinator habitat on the land, this bill supports a
diversity of native and managed pollinators," said Scott Hoffman
Black, executive director of the Portland-based Xerces Society for
Invertebrate Conservation. "It will improve crop security and the
sustainability of agriculture, by helping farmers in the United States
diversify their pollinator portfolio." <br><br>
The bill also makes it a priority for Plant Material Centers managed by
the Natural Resource Conservation Service to emphasize native plantings
that benefit pollinators, and for the USDA to make nurseries and land
managers more aware of these same plants. <br><br>
The House Pollinator Protection Act of 2007 is a companion bill to
several others introduced in recent weeks that make native and managed
pollinators a target for research and habitat conservation. <br><br>
An official explanation for recent colony collapses has not been released
but experts say they look different from the disastrous 2005 season in
which many bees were killed by mites. Some scientists have pointed the
finger at cell phone towers and certain pesticides. Many beekeepers have
found their hives deserted, without telltale signs of a mite infestation.
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*************************<br>
Scott Hoffman Black<br>
Ecologist/Entomologist<br>
Executive Director<br>
The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation<br>
4828 SE Hawthorne <br>
Portland, OR 97215 <br>
Direct line (503) 449-3792<br>
sblack@xerces.org<br><br>
The Xerces Society is an international nonprofit organization that <br>
protects the diversity of life through invertebrate conservation. <br>
<br>
To join the Society, make a contribution, or read about our work, <br>
please visit
<a href="http://www.xerces.org/">www.xerces.org</a>.<br><br>
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